David C. Nielsen, Research Agronomist with the USDA-ARS Central Great Plains Research Station in Akron, was a member of a team of scientists receiving one of six CO-LABS Governor's Awards for High Impact Research.

The team award was presented by Gov. John Hickenlooper at the University of Colorado in recently to theroot zone water quality model (RZWQM2) development team of eight USDA-ARS scientists at Ames, Iowa, Akron and Fort Collins.

The RZWQM2 is a comprehensive cropping systems model that simulates the effects of changes in management practices (tillage, planting date, fertility, plant population), climate variability, soil condition, irrigation management, etc. on crop production and yield. Results from model simulations are used to identify and guide water saving practices that enable Colorado farmers to sustain food production with increasingly limited water supplies.

Model results have also been used to devise systems to protect water quality throughout the United States and internationally.

The RZWQM2 has been used to generate data that farmers use in assessing production risk associated with making changes to cropping systems, as well as to help scientists understand the complex interactions between weather, soils, and crops that ultimately affect profitable crop production.

A video describing the research of the six award winners for 2012 can be viewed at

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